Adult Owl Hat (Square Version) Free Pattern

I was asked the other day to crochet an owl hat for an ex-colleague’s daughter. How old is she, I asked. Twenty-five, was the response. I had been expecting a lower number!

So I started thinking about how I could modify my past owl hat patterns to suit an adult. For starters, I imagined using a “square” design rather than the beanie. My least favourite part of the owl hats are the ears! Grrr.

And then I decided to use more “mature” colours. This young adult apparently volunteers at a bird sanctuary so her mother thought the owl hat would be appreciated and apt.

Using scrap yarn – so I can’t even tell you what kind of yarn it was – I came up with this:

The Square Adult Owl Hat

I’m pleased with the way it turned out, although, as with pretty much everything I make, I’ve learned a few lessons and there are some things I’d do differently next time.

~ PATTERN ~

Hat

To make the hat, make a chain long enough to fit around your head and join, being careful not to twist the chain. Work DC (double crochets) in rounds until the hat is tall enough to just go over your head and meet in the middle.

Without tying off, turn the hat inside out and lay the hat flat, so that two sides meet. Use SC (single crochets to seal the top of the hat together. Cut your yarn and weave in the tails.

Turn the hat right way out again.

Ears

The ears are formed by the corners of the hat when it’s on your head. I added some threads of different lengths to hang from the ears.

Eyes

The eyes are done as flat circles.

Round 1: ch 3, then DC x 12 into the first hoop. Join.

Round 2: ch 2 and add a DC into the same stitch. DC x 2 into remaining stitches and join (24).

Round 3: ch 2 and add a DC into the same stitch. SC into the next stitch. Alternate between SC and DC to complete the round. Join. (36)

Round 4: Ch 2 and add a DC into the same stitch. SC into the next 2 stitches. Continue that pattern (DC, SC, SC, DC, SC, SC…) to complete the round. Join. (48)

Leave a long tail to sew the eye onto the hat.

I added a smaller circle (just 2 rounds) in a different colour on top and then I added a button.

Eyelashes

The eyelashes were done using the Loop Stitch. The loop stitches cover 18 stitches around the outside of each of the biggest circles.

The loop stitch looks like the photo below. You can then cut each stitch to make long eyelashes.

The Beak

In the past, I used the beak pattern that goes like this:

Ch 7, Sl St into the second ch from hook. The remaining chains get a SC, HDC, DC, TC. But I find I end up with a very long and narrow beak.

So, after a little searching, I found crafterchick.com who, I think, has a better pattern:

Round 1: Using your orange yarn (or desired beak color in this project) ch 6. Sc in the 2nd ch from hook and next 4 ch. Ch 1 and turn. (5 sc)
Round 2-4: Sc in second st from hook, skipping 1st st in each round, placing 1 sc in each of the following st. Ch 1 and turn at end of round.
Round 5: Sc in remaining st. Ch 1 and turn.
Round 6: Make 1 sc in each st around the whole perimeter of your beak, placing 3 sc in each of the two top corners and beak tip point to give it a more defined plus rounded look.
Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to have enough yarn to sew the beak securely on to the hat. Put aside until ready in finishing off stage.

Much better!

Assembly

Sew the the eyes together first, then attach them to the hat in the desired location.

Remember I said earlier that I’d change a few things if I could? This is one of them. Once the hat was on my head, I realized that I’d put the eyes on too high up. They needed to be lower to be seen properly.

Attached the beak slightly overlapping the eyes (if you like). I sewed almost all the way around the beak and then stuffed the beak with the leftover yarn to make it puff up before closing up the gap.